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A great standard sanitary towel

I've used all sorts of sanitary towels and tampons over the years. One of the brands I've used many times (and am currently using once more) is Boots own brand Ultra towels.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Boots Ultra Towels come in several variants, but I just have the 'normal with wings' sort in stock at the moment, which I use on lighter days at the start and the end of my period.

A pack of 14 of these individually wrapped towels costs around £1.

The towels are wrapped in a thick plastic heat-sealed sheath, with each towel wrapped in a thinner plastic wrap inside. This means that it's easy to carry these out and about.

The towels themselves have a soft, cotton-like feel to them, and are not excessively thick (around 5mm I would estimate) or long. They have an adhesive strip on the back, which is accessed by pulling away a piece of waxed paper. The back of the towels is made of a plastic material which feels waterproof, and gives me confidence that the towels won't leak.

USER EXPERIENCE

I've been pleased with these towels. They are not significantly different from many other brands I've tried, but they're a reasonable price, they keep me dry and they're comfortable to wear, which is what I want from a sanitary towel.

The towels stick well to my underwear, and unlike some other brands, I haven't had any issues with the wings unsticking and getting rolled up as I walk along! The towels have plenty of 'give' in them, are thin and don't rustle, meaning I can walk comfortably, and know that the towels are discrete enough not to be seen.

I haven't noticed a perfumed smell with these towels (which is good as that can trigger thrush in me!), but the product blurb states that this product contains odour control, which is good to know as period fluids can be very stinky!!!!

My one gripe is that the individual wrapping on the towels is quite flimsy and weakly stuck together, and I find that after a day or so, if I haven't needed to change my towel, the packaging has opened up of its own accord, and the towel is no longer hygienic to use and has to be chucked.

CONCLUSIONS

These are a good bog (ahem!) standard sanitary towel: nothing fancy, but they do the job.

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Perfectly good towels as good as the branded versions

One of the good things about using the contraceptive pill is lighter periods, so I don't seem to go through half as many sanitary towels as I used to. However, on the first couple of days I still need to use a good sanitary towel to keep comfortable and ensure all the flow is caught. I have used a variety of towels over the years from the big brands like Always to the Tesco own brand, however, a while ago, whilst in Boots picking up a few toiletries I saw that they had their own sanitary towels for £1 for 14 which I thought was good value for money.

These towels come in pleasant looking packaging, and the ones that I bought came with wings, which I find much handier than those that don't simply to keep them in place during the day or night. I bought the normal ones as well for normal flow levels rather than for heavy (super) flows as this is more representative of my cycle at present. It also states on the packaging of these towels that they are have a cotton soft feel and keep you dry.

Boots also claim that these towels have an odour control to aid freshness. I can't say that I have ever noticed any strong smells, but then again, I will change them during the day to avoid such smells and for general hygiene. These towels, like most, come wrapped up, so you can tuck them in a corner of your bag.

I find that these towels stay in place during the day and night, but at the same time, they are easy to remove when I am changing my towel. I know some people dont' like the feel of a pad on their underwear, but I don't mind it and this isn't a particularly thick pad, so it doesn't annoy me or make me uncomfortable during the day at all. Most importantly it does what it claims to do - keep me feeling dry, and is comfortable to wear, and for £1 for 14 I think it offers great value then. I would happily purchase these towels again, and think they are as good as the leading brands so as is often said - why pay more?

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A reasonably priced towel that is best suited for medium or lighter periods for me

I am happy to try cheaper brands for just about everything but for some reason I have been more reluctant to take a chance when it comes to sanitary towels. I know they are not the most technologically advanced product in the world but I rely on them to make me feel confident at that time of the month! I used to suffer badly from menstrual cramps and a host of other related problems so the last thing I wanted to worry about on top of that was the risk of any leakage. Things have improved for me now so when I noticed my towel supplies were running low I decided to experiment with the Boots own brand Ultra towels. They cost me £1 for a pack of 12 with wings, but you can also buy them without the wings if you prefer. The packet I have differs from the one in the picture in that it is purple but I think different absorbencies had different colour outers.

Each towel is wrapped individually, whereas I have since discovered some of the cheaper ones aren't. I understand that individual wraps make the towels look a bit more discreet you want to keep some in your hand bag but it is still quite obvious what they are. Personally this doesn't bother me. These aren't the sort that are folded down very small but I could just about get one in the little purse like bag I have to keep them in.

I wanted towels that were absorbent but not thick and therefore uncomfortable or obvious to others when I was wearing them. I have a heavy menstrual flow for the first 3 days on average so I choose the Super strength ones. Before I purchased the towels, I could feel through the plastic packet that they were on the thin side. This would have been off putting had I not read that they contained a apparently ultra absorbent core. On opening up the towels they looked worryingly thin but my fears were mostly unfounded. I say mostly because they proved absorbent enough the majority of the time but on a couple of occasions I felt that I had changed them just in time in order to protect my underwear- and I do so very often for the sake of hygiene. I felt most confident with using these towels after the first couple of days of my period for that reason and I think that despite the ultra name and super strength rating they would be best suited to medium menstruation. I did nevertheless feel that the core succeeded in keeping the surface of the towel feeling more pleasant and drier than it would have been otherwise. The top of the towel is soft but I don't think it feels like cotton as it is supposed to. This is fine as it is comfortable in it's own right.

When I first saw these towels I thought that they looked much longer than average and I had to check the packet to see if I had accidently bought some extra length ones. There is nothing on the packet to say so though. When I actually compared them to a Bodyform towel, I saw that the Boots ones were only just under 5 cm longer, so the difference looks worse than it actually is. I am sure that many ladies would like the extra length but at first I found it took some getting used to. I was just conscious of the fact they were bigger in this regard and I thought that they would be more obvious through my clothes. They aren't at all though. I don't wear anything skin tight around my period for comforts sake - or most of the rest of the time for that matter!- but the towels couldn't be detected through my skinny jeans which is good enough for me. They also felt very secure in my underwear. The towel edges are only very slightly contoured so if you were wearing a thin gusseted pair of knickers you may find they feel too wide or annoy your legs. I find the wings comfortable enough though - I am not aware of them throughout the day. They do stick firmly, as does the rest of the towel.

I don't like perfumed sanitary protection myself, but the Boots one just offer what they call "odour control". I didn't notice any difference myself, but I do change the towels frequently and if you do I don't think any additional assistance is necessary. You dispose of them in the normal way - with the rubbish and not down the loo.

All in all, I would recommend these if you have a medium menstrual flow but not a really heavy one. They would be ideal if you would like your towels to be a bit longer than average but not too bulky at the same time. They wouldn't be a good choice for the briefer kind of briefs as they are not contoured enough! I am trying other shops own brands out at the moment but I would buy the Boots ones again to use at the end of my period when I don't need such Super strength towel.

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Good sanitary towels

I definitely prefer using tampons to sanitary towels when it comes to my time of the month. I just don't like walking around with a towel strapped to my knickers when I can avoid it. However, when it comes to night time I can't avoid wearing a sanitary towel as there are some times when I don't wake up in the night to change a tampon and need a backup plan.

The sanitary towels I've used most recently are these Boots Ultra sanitary towels. Of course, being a Boots product they are only available to purchase in store at Boots or online from their website but a delivery charge will apply. Within the Ultra range, Boots sell a variety of different sizes for different flows, with or without wings. I'll be reviewing the normal absorbency with wings.

The towels come inside thin, plastic packaging that contains all the normal information and product name. Inside this initial plastic packaging are fourteen individually wrapped towels. The towels are easy to unwrap from each individual packet and then you simply push them down in place to stick to your knickers. After sticking the main towel in place you have to take of another sticker and stick a wing either side under your knickers to secure the towel in place. The towels are pretty ordinary and look like any other towel I have used in the past. The normal absorbency are around 12cm in length, this is about the norm I think.

As I said previously, I only use these as a backup during the night on the off chance I don't get up to change my tampon. They are perfect for this use and despite me wriggling around in my sleep quite a lot, the sanitary towels stay in place very well and I haven't experienced them twisting or moving from where I first secured them, I think this is down to the wings more than anything else. As far as the thickness goes, these are quite thin so are comfortable to wear and don't make you feel like you are wearing a nappy! Even though they are thin they still absorb really well and it gets soaked inside the pad opposed to pooling over the top of the pad.

As a backup, I find these pads great. I don't particularly like using sanitary towels but as I have to, I don't mind using these Boots Ultra normal sanitary towels with wings. They stay in place really well and absorb without any problems.

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Good quality everyday sanitary towels

Not to say I am a stingy person but buying sanitary towels is not one of my preferred ways to spend all my money! I usually do my toiletries and cosmetics shop in boots, (lured in by their boots advantage card I have to say!) so from time to time I often pick up their range of sanitary towels.

I like their range for a number of reasons:

1. They are comfortable, soft and give me all round protection. I am not particularly loyal to any brand, but these have done the job equally as well as more advertised brands such as always and bodyform. I don't feel like I'm walking around with a nappy on, and more often than not my Partner has no idea it's the time of the month unless I tell him, meaning he can't see a big lump through my knickers when we are laying in bed!

2. I get this type with wings, as I prefer this style as I find wings allow the sanitary towel to stay in place easily and effectively and I feel as though I am not wearing anything at all down there! This brand gives full support and stays put and so I have no complaints in that respect!

3. They come individually wrapped and sealed Which makes them discreet when floating in and around my bag. Removing them from the wrapper is easily done, and the wrapper is thin and light weight so easy to dispose of. I often use these wrappers to re-wrap used ones in, before disposing of them efficiently in fragranced bags and put in a bin (everyone knows not to flush them down the loo!)

4. They are good at keeping the odour in and do not make me feel conscious that everyone can tell I am on my time of the month which is good in my books! I don't get a heavy flow due to being on a method of contraceptive so normally only change every 2 hours and I find these absorb well and help maintain my hygiene and freshness :)

5. Best part yet is that they're cheap and cheerful! Costing only 89p for a pack of 14 equalling around 6.4p each! Not bad in my books!

Overall, I'd recommend these to anyone who wants normal, every day coverage, from a good brand such as Boots at a fraction of the price!

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A very good value towel for a light-medium flow

I'm always happy to try a store's own product in the interests of saving money, and especially pleased when it turns out to be as good as any brand!

These are a good size of sanitary towel, which are long enough to be useable at nighttime if you have a light-medium flow, as well as during the day. The wings are, in my opinion, essential for any decent sanitary towel, as they keep it in place and prevent slight leaks at the side, and these ones do a great job. I wouldn't recommend these to people with a heavy flow though, as they are not absorbant enough to deal with that, you would be changing very frequently! I tend to use these at the end when my flow is a lot lighter.

The towels are wrapped in mini-packets, making them very easy to carry around with you in small quantities. The packets are plain (unlike some branded ones) but they do the job fine; I don't tend to go around flashing my sanitary products to strangers anyway! They are priced very reasonably and usually available on an offer (along with other boots sanitary products) so definitely worth buying.

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Not great!

When it comes to sanitary protection, I'm not particularly fussy and will happily try a range of brands to see what's out there. The one exception to this is Bodyform, which didn't suit my particular needs so based on that, I'm not overly concerned with sticking to brand offerings. I bought a couple of packs of these sanitary towels a few weeks ago when they were on offer in my local Boots store.

THE TOWELSThe towels aren't particularly thick, which I found a bit off-putting. Without going into too much gory detail, the first couple of days of my period are usually quite heavy and I was concerned that the towels wouldn't pass the test, so to speak.

USING THEMThey fit my underwear fine but I quickly became irritated with the stickiness. I always choose towels with wings to avoid having towels slip around and cause 'leaks' but in this case, the wings quickly lost their stick. As they're relied upon to keep the towel in place, you can imagine how incovenient this started to become over the course of an hour or two before changing to a new one. I noticed the same thing at the back of each towel. I choose night time or long pads to make sure that I'm protected while I'm sitting down or lying down but the lack of stick at the back meant that the towel started to peel off or move around at the back so I wasn't really protected much at all. Like most women, I want to feel that I can trust a towel to stay in place and I didn't feel that was the case with these.

ABSORBENCYDespite my initial reservations about the thickness, I didn't experience any leaks even on my heaviest days. That said, I found that I needed to change the towels more often than I'm used to. On a heavy day, I was changing every 1.5 hours on average and every 2.5 hours on lighter days. With other brands, I can sometimes go 3-4 hours (on a non-heavy day), which makes quite a difference to how many packs you'll need. At night, I was frequently waking up to find that the towel had soaked through where I'd slept for more than a few hours without changing and to make things worse, the lack of stick at the back meant that blood was often going through to the bed sheets despite me sleeping on a towel on the heavier days. I don't normally have this problem unless I sleep through the whole night without getting up to change towels (which is rare) so I can safely say that I wasn't thrilled with the absorbency levels. They were better on my lighter days so you might find them fine if your periods aren't very heavy.

PRICEI paid £1 per pack for mine as there was an offer on at the time. Under normal circumstances, I think that they're around £1.29 per pack of 10 towels (for the night time ones that I always buy, at least).

OVERALL VERDICTAs you've probably gathered, I haven't bought these again. I buy a lot of own brand sanitary towels, mostly from Tesco and Sainsburys, and haven't felt let down by them but I didn't like these much at all. The tendency to unstick and move around and the lack of absorbency compared to other similarly priced competitors doesn't inspire me to recommend them. For a similar price, there are other options that don't have the same let downs.